Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Burghart and Sajid Javid

Monday 29th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that. He may recall that the integration strategy, which was launched earlier this year, talked of almost 700,000 adults in Britain who speak no or very poor English. That has led to more work in this area, especially on using members of the communities concerned as mentors to try to encourage others to take up English language learning.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to encourage greater collaboration between the police and fire services.

Immigration Detention: Shaw Review

Debate between Alex Burghart and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I look forward to the Select Committee’s scrutiny. The right hon. Lady is right to point out that, sadly, some vulnerable people will have been victims of torture. Where those claims are made, they should all be properly looked at, which is why I said in my statement that I want to look again at how rule 35 works, so that when people make those claims, they are properly and thoroughly assessed and taken seriously. On time limits and detention, I hope that she welcomes what I have said about doing more work and about having a proper review. I also want to reassure her that challenges have been built into the system. For example, independent panels will challenge whether someone still needs to be detained, and there are gatekeepers when someone arrives at the detention centre. We have learned from the Windrush cases that those systems have not always worked, so there will be more lessons to learn, and I look forward to working with her on those issues.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

I am a former member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and we were given access to two of the case files of the Windrush generation who appear to have been illegally detained. I very much welcome the Home Secretary’s response to the Shaw report today. Will he confirm that he is putting in place systems to ensure that no one is detained against the evidence?

[Sajid Javid]

I know very well the two cases to which my hon. Friend refers. As we are still working on Windrush cases, there may well be further cases, sadly, from which we will need to learn lessons as well. I can give my hon. Friend confidence that we are doing everything we can to make changes to ensure that the evidence is followed. For example, I have announced a change today to pilot an automatic bail process of two months, rather than waiting for four months. We need to learn more from the Windrush cases, which is why the lessons learned review will be important, and I am sure that it will show us what more we can do to improve detention.

Windrush

Debate between Alex Burghart and Sajid Javid

Monday 30th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady asks me about the taskforce. I understand that more than 50 officials are working on it, and we can increase that number if necessary. They are dealing with all the calls as they come in, and they have set up appointments for face-to-face meetings. As I said earlier, 500 appointments have been scheduled and 100 cases already resolved. If we need to add further resources, we will. If any member of the public who is listening wants to know, the number for the hotline is 0800 678 1925.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State to his position. My constituents want to know not only that the taskforce is doing its job and reaching out to encourage people to get in touch with the Home Secretary, but that the Government are using all the resources at their disposal to find out about registration for national insurance, electoral registration and registration for council tax to help people prove that they have been in this country for a long time.

[Sajid Javid]

I assure my hon. Friend on that front that officials and Ministers have been looking carefully to see what else can be done to help with finding appropriate documentation. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration has already had meetings with other Departments to try to achieve just that.

Grenfell Tower

Debate between Alex Burghart and Sajid Javid

Thursday 19th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman refers to the coroners’ reports following the two previous tragedies, and he is right that in both cases the coroner asked social housing providers to consider the provision of sprinklers. It was recommended that the then Secretary of State write to housing associations and councils to pass on that recommendation, which is exactly what the Secretary of State did at the time.

As for the wider funding issues, I have already answered that question.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

The whole House will agree that it is important that those who have been directly affected by the fire have their voices heard, so will the Secretary of State update us on what meetings the Government have had with the victims?

[Sajid Javid]

My Department, which has been leading the Government effort, has been heavily involved right from day one of this tragedy, as have several councils—not just the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. London boroughs came together quickly under what is a called a gold command, and all councils have been involved in working with and listening to the victims. Over the summer, a majority of the victims came together to set up Grenfell United under their own initiative, and there have been regular meetings with the group’s committee. I met the group at a meeting to which every survivor was invited, and the victims Minister and the Prime Minister have also met the group.

Grenfell Tower

Debate between Alex Burghart and Sajid Javid

Monday 3rd July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

This terrible disaster obviously raises questions about the effectiveness of local emergency planning. What steps are being taken here and elsewhere to ensure that other local authorities have good emergency responses should disasters befall them?

[Sajid Javid]

One of the lessons that has already come from this tragedy is about trying to make sure, across the country, that we take a fresh look at planning for civil emergencies. That work has already begun, led by the Cabinet Office.